Something New
by lovelance
Summary: Derek always like Casey, but not in a brotherthly way. When her friends from Toronto visit he finds himself falling for the other side of Casey even harder. Rating may get stronger. Author's Note deleted and chapter 8 is up!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: If I owned LWD, would I really be posting this here? No, I would be writing it into the show!

Chapter 1 New Facts, New Faces

Maybe it was his intense eyes, or the way his hair was always perfectly messy that had made her fall in love with him. Maybe it was the way he smirked at her or how he never took no for an answer. Everything about him annoyed her to no end, but it also made her love him that much more. Whatever it was, there was something about him that made it impossible for her to think of anyone else.

She found her self at times picking fights with him, just so he would talk to her. But it wasn't what she wanted. What she wanted was to grab him and kiss him right in front of everyone. But that was something the old Casey would have done, the real Casey. Not the grade-grubber, klutzilla that had appeared when she had moved into her step-father's house. That Casey was a promise to her mom that she wouldn't get into as much trouble as she used to. That Casey was a lie.

It was her senior year of high school and she and Derek had were planning on going to the same college the next year. Casey was sick of living in skirts and pink tops and longed for the days when she would go out partying with her friends. She wished that just once she could be seen here the same way she had been seen there. As the girl who was typically responsible, but could let it all go every now and then.

It was bright and early on a Saturday morning and Casey was still in bed, but Derek had been unable to sleep. So he had gotten up around the same time as Nora and helped her with breakfast. The door bell rang and Derek went to answer it. When he opened the door he saw a three people who looked like they didn't belong anywhere near his house. "Can I help you?"

"Does Casey McDonald live here?"

Derek nodded.

"Good! We're friends on hers, can you tell her we're here?"

At this Derek started to laugh. There was no way the Casey he knew would ever consider hanging out with these people who were dressed in mainly black and had a very punk-rock vibe to them. After a moment he caught his breath. "Sorry, nothing against all of you, but you might be looking for a different Casey McDonald."

One of the girls looked at a piece of paper in her hand. "Nope, this is the address she gave us."

Derek backed up. "Well, by all means come in. I don't mean to be rude, it just doesn't seem like Casey."

At that moment Nora walked into the living room and smiled as each of the two girls and one guy gave her a hug with Derek being even more shocked, and there was a screach heard from upstairs. "DEREK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"That sounds like Casey, though." Derek smirked and waited at the bottom of the stairs for Casey to run down and yell at him.

When Casey had woken up it had been to the sound of the door bell. She had sat up and looked around her room. Oh, no. He had done it again. Casey fumed as she got up and pulled her jeans on. Derek had taken her shirts again. She went into his room and grabbed one of his more punk shirts and screamed.

When she got to the top of the stairs she saw him standing there smirking. He was waiting for her to come down and yell at him. She knew it. So, she decided to pull out old Casey. She knew her mom wouldn't like it, but maybe this would be a good exception. 

She ran down the stairs and yelled his name. WHen he turned round, still smirking, she punched him in side of his face. he fell to the floor caught completely off gaurd by such a move. She leaned over him and he looked up at her. "QUIT STEALING MY TOPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!" She made a move like she was going to hit him again, but as he used his arms to protect himself she heard Lizzy yell, "Megan!"

Casey looked up and forgot all her anger at Derek. Megan, Jasmine, and Chris were standing in front of the table watching her. Her face broke into a huge smile as she practically tackled her friends. Nora was scowling at her. She turned to see Derek still bunched up on the floor. She laughed a little and said, "You can get up now, Derek, I won't hit you."

He slowly got up as she walked into the kitchen. George had come up and Casey could hear Marti asking Derek what happened. Derek stammered as Casey returned with an ice pack. "I hit him." She handed him the ice pack and he took it and went to his recliner.

Casey's friends spent the rest of the day at the house, but left after dinner for their hotel. Derek had spent the majority of the day pouting in his recliner. He had gone up to his room right after dinner and waited for Casey to come up. When she did he was leaning against his door frame and stopped her as he spoke. "Nice punch, didn't think you had it in you."

Casey stopped smiled at him. "Well, I guess that was just one prank too many. Where are my tops, by the way?"

He produced a bag that was stuffed. "Please, take them back, I don't want to get hit again." The swelling on his cheek hadn't really been bad to begin with and was practically gone, now, but the bruise was several beautiful shades of purple, green and black.

She laughed a little and reached up to touch his cheek. "I really didn't mean to hit you that hard."

Derek snorted. "Yeah, right." He disappeared into his room and closed the door in Casey's face.

Casey stared at the door for a minute then went into her own room.

Derek leaned his head against the door. Why did she have to do that? Why did she have to touch him as if she actually cared that she had hurt him? She was probably dancing for joy that she had managed it. Derek threw himself onto his bed and listened to his heart beat as he tried to keep from thinking about the touch. But with every beat he could feel his heart cracking a little more.

God, he loved that girl.

A/N: This chapter is fairly short compared to most of the other chapters. Please keep reading, I promise it will pick up. Review button! Push the pretty review button! 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Nope, I still don't own it.

Chap 2 True Casey

The next morning Casey's friends showed up at the door again. This time they were planning to take Casey to the mall. "What do you say, Mrs. M.D., can we take her? We want old Casey back!"

Nora laughed as the entire Venturi clan looked puzzled. "I didn't make her change how she dressed, she can get whatever she wants."

All of the visitors now looked at Casey. "If she didn't make you wear pink, why are you wearing pink?" Chris looked as if she had lost her mind.

Casey shrugged but didn't blush, which surprised Derek. "I figured if I was going to act more like those preppy people I ought to dress the part. That's why I changed my look."

Chris looked hard at her for a moment. "I still think you're nuts."

"Then I guess you rubbed off on me."

Everyone laughed before Casey took her friends up to her room. As the four were getting ready to leave, Derek knocked on Casey's door. "Yeah?"

"Is it cool if I take the car, or are you going in it?" 

"The car" was the one Casey and Derek shared and they had long since come to the agreement that they would have to ask about each other's schedules if they wanted to use it. This came from there being too many arguments and slamming doors. The last fight over the car came when Derek was going on a date and Casey and Emily, not knowing about his date, beat him to the car to go to the mall. He hadn't even realized it until he was ready to leave, then he'd had to call his date and tell her he couldn't make it. He had waited in Casey's room seathing for two hours before she came home and started yelling at her immedeately. She had started crying in anger because she was being yelled at and couldn't even understand what he was saying. She had finally figured out what he was mad about and started yelling back that he should have told her he had a date and she wouldn't have taken the car. The fight had culminated in Derek punching a hole in her wall. He hadn't broken his hand but it was bleeding and Casey had stopped yelling at him and took him into the bathroom, sticking his wounds under the running water. He just couldn't be mad at her after she had carefully cleaned and bandaged his hand, paying close attention to whether or not there were any signs that he had done more than cut his knuckles. It was during the bandaging that they had talked calmly about the car arrangement.

"We're taking Megan's car. Where are you going?"

"Mall to meet Sam."

"WHy don't you ride with us?"

He looked around her at her friends. "Mainly because Sam's parents are dropping him off. He's leaving town for the break right when his parents pick him up, so he wouldn't be able to bring me home."

"When are they picking him up?"

Derek shrugged. "Five-ish."

"Then it's settled!" Jasmine yelled from inside Casey's room. "We were planning to stay til 5 or 5:30 then get dinner. You come with us, we have to make sure you're treating her ok!"

He looked at them again. "But then I'll get beat up again."

Casey laughed. "Believe it or not, I was the only one ever brave enough to actually hit anyone. Come on, with us. It'll save gas and you just got fired."

Derek glared at her. "I was going to quit anyway, and it wasn't because I was doing a bad job!" He started grumbling and Casey distinctly heard the words "stupid jerk" and "just because of his daughter".

"Don't get defensive, I'm just presenting a logical argument for why you should ride with us."

Derek grumbled a 'fine' and went back down stairs.

Megan and Jasmine giggled, while Chris smiled at her. "Well," Jasmine said. "He's cute, I'll give you that. But he seems like a real smartass."

Casey nodded. "He is, and as you could see yesterday, he's also a massive prankster. But I still love him."

Her friends all nodded. "We can see that."

A few minutes later, Casey and her friends and Derek climbed into Megan's car. It was a bit tight because the car only fit five people in the first place, and the back seat was meant for kids. Derek managed to get smashed into the door with Casey in the middle and Chris on the other side. When they got to the mall Casey and her friends walked with Derek to the food court where he was going to meet the Sam. "So, how about meeting back here at around 5?"

Derek nodded and said goodbye to Casey and walked over to Sam as they walked away. "Who are those people with Casey?"

"Hello to you too! Those are her friends from Toronto." Derek watched as Casey walked off with them. "Apparently she used to be kind of a bad girl and Nora made her promise to not get into as much trouble when they moved in."

"Huh."

The two boys began walking off towards the stores they liked, even though Derek kept looking back to see Casey walk off with her friends. "So, when are you telling Casey you like her?"

Derek rolled his eyes. "Have I not told you never at least a hundred times."

"Yes, but the last time we talked you said you were going to tell her eventually. Don't tell me you have changed your mind since Friday."

Derek shrugged. "I don't know. WIth these friends coming in, I think I want to get to know the real Casey before I actually say anything."

"Dude, she wouldn't have changed how she thinks, just supressed some of her old actions. By the way, where'd the shiner come from?"

Derek gave a hollow laugh. "Casey."

"See, she still gets annoyed with you, she just shows it physically instead of vocally. What did you do?"

Derek laughed. "Took her tops again. Do me a favor, and don't talk about Casey anymore for a while. I imagine I'll get to know the real her more later. I'm going to dinner with her and her friends."

Casey had felt someone watching her as she walked away from Derek. As she turned a corner she took a quick glance back and saw Derek staring at her. She smiled, knowing that he didn't feel the same as she did, but glad that he was staring. The first place she went was to replace the majority of her clothes. Her friends had pooled together their money and were trying to buy her a whole new wardrobe, but she wouldn't let them. She had never been one to take charity and that was what she considered it. She did end up with at least 3 full weeks of new tops, plus a new jacket, a couple of belts, a pair of black jeans, and a bunch of new make-up.

At 4 they went to their final stop, the salon. As they were discussing what she should do with her hair they came across the option of returning her old streaks. "You could do green or red or blue, do you want to?"

Casey nodded and they narrowed the colors down to three, red, blue, and purple. Casey couldn't decide what color she wanted and each of her friends chose a different color. "Alright, you know what, I'll call Derek." She flipped open her phone and dialed his number. 

"What?"

"How rude."

"Sorry." And he hung up.

Casey looked at her phone in shock. She looked at her friends. "He hung up on me! Jazz, let me borrow your phone." The girl handed it over and Casey dialed Derek's number again.

"Hello?"

"You hung up on me!"

There was laughter on the other end. "Yeah, well, I was being nice to just answer the phone in the first place, knowing it was you, so if you thought I was being rude, then I was going to be rude. What did you want?"

"Red, blue or purple?"

"Huh?"

"Red, blue or purple?"

"For what?"

"Just answer."

"Blue."

"Thank you." She hung up before he could say anything else. "Blue. And I got him back." Her phone started buzzing but she ignored it. "Derek. I'm not answering."

Chris shook his head. "That's the same thing you did to your mom when you got streaks the first time."

"Yeah, and she liked them."

"So, now Derek will, is that your thought?"

Casey nodded as she sat waiting for her name to be called. "there is a really long line today. I hope we're not late."

At fifteen til 5 Derek said goodbye to Sam and got a pretzel in the food court. As he was sitting down at one of the tables his phone starting buzzing in his pocket. It was Casey's number again. "Green."

Casey laughed on the other end. "No, no colors this time. I'm at the salon and the line is longer than we expected. My name is next, so I don't want to leave, but I was going to tell you that either you can wait for us in the food court, or you can come to the salon and wait with us. I don't know when I'll get done. I'll call you when I am, though, if you don't come here."

Derek nodded even though he knew she couldn't see him. "I'll finish my pretzel and head over there, k?"

"Sure, later."

As Casey hung up her phone she heard her name called. "Derek will show up here in a little while," she told her friends as she walked off. 

They nodded and waited til she was out of ear shot. Jasmine turned to Chris. "Ok, you have to make Derek jealous. Put your arm around Casey or something. I can tell he totally likes her just as much as she likes him and we have to get him to say something. The only way he will is to feel like another guy is invading his territory."

"Jazz, you can't go messing with the relationship. Casey will figure out what we're doing."

"Yeah, and then she'll play into it until Derek isn't around. Then she'll fuss at us and if we continue, she'll keep playing along, because it is something she wants to do, she just would never admit it. Come on, Chris, let's do this. It will help Casey."

Chris sighed and nodded. WHen it came to Casey, his surrogate little sister, he couldn't resist any plan that would make her happy.

They soon spotted Derek walking towards them and waved him over. "What were the colors for?"

They all laughed. "You'll see."

Derek shrugged and sat down. He expected Casey to come out of the salon with maybe some highlights and shorter hair, perhaps a top that was the color he chose. He never thought she would come out looking the way she did. She had on rather tight, black jeans and a black, studded leather belt. She also had on a shirt that was obviously bought in a section he would normally shop in that was a little tight and a choker around her neck. The shirt looked almost as good as when she wore one of his shirts. While most of her face had her normal amount of make-up her eyes were extremely dark. But her hair was what shocked him most. It was cut jagged, the shortest sections only chin length, the longest barely brushing her shoulder. And there were bright blue streaks in her hair. He noticed the leather bands on her arms as walked towards him and her friends. "Alright, I'm ready and I'm hungry. Let's eat." She looked at him and smiled. "What?"

Derek closed his mouth and shook his head. "Nothing. Food is good, let's go."

Her friends nodded and started yelling out different places they could go. Derek just watched Casey as she walked in front of him. At one point she turned around and faced him. "Derek, we can't decide, where do you want to go?"

Derek shrugged. "I don't care."

Casey made an annoying buzzing noise. "Wrong answer, you have to name a place."

He shrugged again and sifted through the places in his mind. "I want a burger."

"Decided, Ben's!" Casey yelled, punching her fist in the air. "I win!"

Her friends started laughing at her and Derek allowed the corners of his mouth to turn up a bit. At least until he noticed Chris. He had gotten next to Casey and draped his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to him. Derek felt a pang of jealousy in the pit of his stomach and briefly thought about tackling the man and ripping his heart out, but he decided that doing that would probably make Casey mad at him. So he followed the group out to Megan's car in silence.

When they all piled in Chris made sure that he sat on one side of Casey and Derek sat on the other. The whole way to the burger joint Derek kept glancing at Chris's arm still draped around Casey's shoulder. He had also kicked it up a bit and kept whispering in her ear and brushing hair out of her face. By the time the got to the restraunt Derek had both his hands in tight fists and excused himself to the bathroom as soon as they sat down just so he didn't hit someone.

As soon as Derek's back was out of sight Casey turned to Chris and glared at him. "Ok, so you're trying to make Derek jealous, I get that, now stop."

All her friends shook their heads. "No, way. You have been hurt too many times to really go after him, but I don't think this guy would ever hurt you." Jazz looked at her and shrugged. "Besides, didn't you see the way he was glaring death at Chris? Our plan is totally working!"

"A little too well, maybe. You guys do realize that Derek is ready to kill Chris. Did you see his fists when he got out of the car?"

Megan waved her hand. "No worries, he won't do anything. He's too scared you won't like him."

Casey shook her head. "You guys don't know him the way I do. He's angry and even if he doesn't actually hit a person, he'll end up hitting something and hurting himself."

Her friends looked at each other. "Look, we're trying to help. And we won't stop."

Casey smiled, knowing they wouldn't but wanting them to be careful. "Ok, but tone it down a little. Derek can have kind of a temper and he always comes out better in fights. I don't want blood."

Megan sighed again. "He won't do anything."

Casey shook her head. "Look, there have been times that he has controled temper for a long time, but if you keep going he will blow up. Even if he wants me to like him, he will eventually snap. Seriously, back off a little."

Her friends nodded and Megan warned them all that Derek was on his way back. He took his seat next to Casey and they waited for their food to be ready. The rest of the evening passed with out event, but only because Chris did tone it down a little and Derek found himself better able to control his temper.

Megan dropped the pair off at their house and Casey covered her hair with a hat she had taken from Chris before they went in. "What's that for?"

"I want to do a big reveal for my hair."

They went in a Lizzie and Nora just smiled as the rest of the Venturis gawked at her. Then she stood in the middle of the room and said "Ok, now for the hair." She pulled her hat off and let her hair drop. Marti jumped when she saw the blue in Casey's hair and started sqealing.

Nora nodded. "Much better than the black you had last time."

"Thank you."

"How did you pick blue, Casey? Smerek likes blue!" Marti bounded over to her.

"Actually, Derek picked it."

Everyone looked at Derek. "I didn't know what I was choosing. She just called me and asked me to pick a color."

Nora laughed. "That's what she did to me the first time she got streaks in her hair."

"Ok," Casey said just before yawning. "I'm going to bed, see you in the morning."

Derek watched as she went upstairs, then plopped into his recliner. This new side of Casey was intriguing. He couldn't wait to see what she would surprise him with next.

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	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: If this changes, I'll let you know.

Thanks to everyone for all the comments. I actually kind of thought that people might not like this story, so I am really thankful!

Chap 3 Mine

Derek's POV

I had watched her all evening. I had watched as that Chris guy kept throwing his arm around her and talking in her ear and kissing her cheek. I'll admit, I was jealous, just not to anyone. The next morning I woke up to Marti bouncing on my bed telling me she, Ed, Liz, Dad and Nora were all going out for the day and that if Casey wasn't up by noon to wake her. I nodded and told Marti goodbye before rolling over and trying to get back to sleep.

Not long after Marti left, I found that I couldn't sleep anymore and got up and went to take a shower. But there was already someone in there. I waited, leaning against the wall, listening as Casey sang in the shower. As I was waiting I gave serious thought to getting D-Rock back together, just with a different drummer. He was way to focused on "the look" rather than the music. Not that the look wasn't important to me, I just really do like to play more than I like the cool factor. I know, weird, huh? Not normal Derek attitude.

The bathroom door opened and Casey came out wrapped in a towel. "Wow, no banging on the door. Surprising."

I shrugged. "Your friends coming by today?"

"Just for lunch. They're going back to Toronto this afternoon." She looked disappointed at that, and I hoped I didn't look as happy as I felt at the news.

I slipped into the bathroom as Casey went to her room. Once I had shut the door I could disntinctly smell her fruity shampoo. I climbed into the shower, still half asleep and started washing. I didn't realize really what I was doing until I started smelling her shampoo even stronger. Damn. Now I smelled like her. She would notice that.

I stepped out of the bathroom and into my bedroom. I got dressed and stepped out of my room, immedeately walking into Casey. She frowned at me. "Did you use my shampoo?"

I nodded. "Grabbed the wrong bottle." I hoped she would be satisfied with the explanation. She just nodded and started walking away, but I still wasn't sure if she had accepted my explanation or not. I wasn't really lying, it just also wasn't the whole truth. Speaking of whole truths, before I could stop myself I blurted out, "Did you and Chris date?"

She turned back around and stared at me with a look in her eyes that confused me. It seemed like a mixture of knowing, cockiness, and surprise. But I didn't have time to analys it because I waiting for her answer. "No, we never dated."

That was all I got before she walked downstairs to get ready for her friends to come over. I went back in my room. I sat at my desk staring at my blank computer screen thinking about what she had said. I didn't think that she was lying to me, but I expected her to say more than just 'no'. I expected her to ask why I thought that. I expected that she would explain why he was trying to feel her up all evening. I expected more than what she gave me. I heard Casey yelling at me to come down and eat. I didn't realize it had been that long that I'd been sitting there. Slowly I got up and started down the stairs. I could hear her friends talking to her. I made as much noise as I could coming down the stairs, giving Chris plenty of time to step away from her.

I spent another meal with them and the entire time Chris was hanging on Casey whenever he had the chance. I wanted so badly to ring his neck, but again, I decided Casey wouldn't like me very much if I killed one of her friends. But I knew by the time lunch ended that Casey had probably been lying to me when she said they had never dated. If they hadn't then why would he have been hanging off her like that? When they left, saying their goodbyes, Chris went so far as to give Casey a kiss right on the mouth. Definitely dated. Casey walked her friends out to Megan's car and I fumed from the stairs.

I plopped down in my chair and turned on the tv. Casey came back in and sat down on the couch. I couldn't stand it. I shouldn't be this angry, but I love her and she lied to me. Why would she think she had to do that? I hate being lied to in general, but especially by Casey. I threw the remote at her and started up the stairs.

"Hey," I heard her call after me. She caught me just before I slammed the door to my room putting her hand on my door so it wouldn't close. "What is your deal?"

"Why'd you lie to me?"

She looked confused. "Huh?"

I looked her right in the eye. "You said you and Chris had never dated. Why'd you lie?"

She shook her head. "I didn't."

"Then what was that kiss?"

She smirked at me. Damn, that's MY smirk. She can't use it! "Did it make you jealous, Derek?"

I shook my head, but it wasn't exactly convincing. At all. In fact I think it was more like a nod anyway. "Derek, that was the whole reason he did it. My friends think you like me, as more than just a step sister, and they wanted to force you to act on it. Maybe they were wrong. That was the whole thing last night, too. That's why he was hanging on me. Something about him invading your territory or something."

I looked at my feet and gave a hollow laugh. "Apparently they don't realize that you don't belong to me."

She stood in my doorway, me just inside my room. She just stared at me and I suddenly felt very self-concious. She didn't do anything and stood there as if she was waiting for something. "What?" I finally asked.

She shrugged. "Nothing, I guess."

I could tell she was a little upset that I hadn't said more, but I just couldn't. As she started to walk off I grabbed her wrist and yanked her back to me. I looked in her eyes. She stared right back and I tried to say something. Before anything could come out of my mouth the front door opened and Marti yelled up the stairs. "Smerek, you promised you would play tea party with me!"

Casey was in her room by the end of Marti's proclamation and I yelled back down to her. "In a little while Marti, I'm busy right now." I closed my own door and cursed to fact that the others had come home. I laid down on my bed and stared at my ceiling, not moving until I was called down for dinner. If they hadn't come home, what would have happened?

As I came down the stairs Casey ran past me. But we both sat in our chairs at the same time. Marti started singing and dancing in her chair. "Casey and Derek have to do the dishes. Ha ha ha ha ha ha."

Casey sighed and I understood why she had been running. Because of pranks I had pulled, she had done the dishes every night this week. Oh, well. I smirked at her. I didn't know if the look she gave me meant that she really didn't want to be around me, or that she didn't want everyone else to know that she really did. She hadn't actually told me she had a crush on me, she just didn't say she didn't want me to be jealous. She just said that her friends thought I had one on her. My ceiling had been very kind in pointing that out to me. It had been very kind indeed in pointing out that nearly kissing her was probably the dumbest thing I could have done.

At any rate, I was excited that we were doing the dishes together.

"So, how was the day for the two of you?"

Nora looked at me and Casey. I shrugged, "Fine." But Casey launched into a recreation of what happened while her friends were at the house and how they had left. She did conviniently leave out the kiss Chris had left her with. Lizzie seemed disappointed that she had missed saying goodbye to them, but Casey told her (and the rest of the family) that they were planning on coming back in a couple of months.

"Well," Nora started. "You know I love your friends, honey, just promise me that you won't get into any trouble if you start seeing a lot of them again."

Casey nodded. "I promise."

Edwin started laughing. "Casey and trouble don't belong in the same sentence unless Casey is stopping the trouble."

Nora shook her head. "That isn't how she used to be. She's always made all A's and been more responsible than most, but that doesn't mean she hasn't had some rather stupid moments."

At this I had to start laughing. "I'm going to have to hear a story that can be backed up by many in order to believe that."

Casey glared at me. "Then go into Toronto's city records and you'll be able to find the time I got arrested."

My dad chuckled a little at this. Then stopped when Nora glared at him. "It really wasn't funny."

I couldn't help the joke that came out. "What were you arrested for, being too clean?"

Nora looked like she might hit me, but Casey calmly sipped her water. "Underage drinking and fighting."

The entire Venturi clan just stared at her. "Huh?" was all that I could get out of my mouth.

"How intelligent. I was at a party and I had been drinking and this guy tried to get me to sleep him. When I refused he tried to hit me and we started fighting. The guy was a senior at the high school and we were both arrested, though I got a REALLY light sentence out of pure luck."

"What was the sentence, and what kind of luck?"

"I only had to pay the party host back for a couple of things I broke while fighting and work 50 hours of community service. The luck was that the guy had actually been responsible for several rapes in the area, so my fighting him off the way I did, helped the authorities catch him and he was found guilty for underage drinking, attempted rape on me, and I think 4 other rapes. So, the judge took pity on me." She shrugged as if this was nothing new to her, but I stared at her with disbelief written on my face.

She glared at me. "I didn't just sprout a second head, Derek, this has been on my record since we met. The only difference is that now you know about it."

I nodded vigorously. "Yeah, now I know you're actually a badass." As my dad cleared his throat signaling that I shouldn't cuss in front of Marti, realization spread across my face. "I bet you played pranks at your old school."

She smiled at me.

"You could have gotten me back this entire time and you chose not to." Then I was indignant as I thought about the one time she had tried. "You let my student card fall out of that pocket on purpose."

Her smile turned to a look of pure inocence that was as phony as a politician, or a cheerleader. "How could you possibly accuse me of such a thing!"

"You did, didn't you?"

Then she started laughing and nodded.

Before I could tackle her from across the table my dad decided to figure out what I was talking about. "You remember when that massive prank was pulled on the new principle and everyone thought I did it and I had to confess or be expelled?"

My dad nodded. "Well, when Casey said she pulled the prank at dinner that night after she stood up for me, she wasn't lying. She had done it, that's why I said I didn't do it." Then I pointed a finger at her. "You were trying to get me expelled and got cold feet."

She shook her head. "Please, I thought you knew I was smarter than that. Of course I knew that he would tell you to confess or be expelled. Of course I left your student card there so there would be a good enough reason to expel you. But, I knew you would never confess if you hadn't done it and I knew that no principle is really willing to expel a student on his first week on the job, he just needs a good enough reason not to. And when you think about it my plan totally worked. You gained a slight amount of respect for me having the guts to pull something that big off and, after my little display in the school halls, you also had enough of a concience to not pull anymore pranks on me for a while, which was what I was going for."

I put my face in my hands. "I can't believe it." I looked back up at her. "All this time I thought you were trying to get me in trouble because of the pranks I had pulled. Only to find that I was actually pranked." I stood up and bowed. "I bow to the master of psychological warfare."

Dad and Nora stared at Casey and Lizzie laughed, while Ed and Marti comensed bowing as well. "Casey," Nora started. "I thought we had agreed on no more pranks. That's why I didn't believe it was you."

Casey shrugged. "I know, but I just couldn't take Derek's pranks anymore. And I knew that nothing would really happen to him. I knew that the most he would get would be a few days of detention. Which, for him, is nothing abnormal."

By this time everyone had finished their dinners and Nora just shook her head and told us to get started on the dishes and we would have desert afterwards. So, Casey and I took our plates to the kitchen. Casey started on cleaning plates as the family brought them to her and I started on putting away the left overs, then, giving Casey the bigger dishes, I started drying what she had already washed. "Are you mad at me?"

I was surprised by the sudden question. "For what?"

"For playing that joke on you."

I laughed and shook my head. "No, I can't be. I've pulled enough pranks on you that I can't really blame you for it."

We continued cleaning in silence and when we were done I grabbed the ice cream, scoop and bowls. As I started filling bowls with ice cream, Casey started putting choclate syrup in the bowls of those who would want it. We started chatting about nothing. I started insulting her about her lack of syrup pouring skills. She took the bowls to the table and called the family. I was still jeering at her as I put the ice cream away. Suddenly I felt something thick hit the top of my head. I stood there in complete shock as the chocolate syrup dripped down my forehead and off my nose.

I turned around and looked at a very smug Casey holding the bottle. "Did you just dump chocolate syrup on my head?"

She scoffed. "Well, I honestly didn't think you were THAT stupid, but yes."

I stared at her for a moment. Then I grabbed the sprayer from the sink and soaked her shirt and hair. She stood there, dripping wet, in the middle of the kitchen and stared at me. "It's on, now." She picked up the whipped topping and started shooting it and the syrup at me and I started spraying her again. 

The fight continued for a few minutes until Nora and Dad came up from the basement. "What is going on in here?"

By this time we were on the ground both covered in chocolate, whipped topping. I had managed to wrestle the syrup from her and she had turned the sprayer on me a few times so we were both soaked from head to toe. Even my shoes were filled with water. The kitchen floor was also covered with chocolate. We grinned sheepishly and didn't look them in the eyes. Dad shook his head. "Clean up the kitchen and don't get the rest of the house messy when you two clean up."

We looked at each other and started laughing as they left the room. The kitchen didn't take long to clean up and when we were done I voiced a small problem. "How are we getting back upstairs?"

Casey rolled her eyes at me and grabbed my wrist pulling me into the laundry room. "We're going to walk."

"But we are covered in chocolate."

She stood in the middle of the laundry room and swiftly pulled her shirt off.

I just stared at her. She was hot. She wears a black, lacey bra?

She looked at me. "Derek, you will get the entire house messy and stain your clothes if you don't take them off here and put them in the washer."

I nodded and started pulling my shirt off. She grabbed it from me and put it in the washer with her clothes. As I pulled of my shoes I noticed that she had on black, girl's boxer-briefs, too. I pulled off my pants and she started giggling as she put them into the washer and started it. I glared at her. "What?"

"Your boxers have dogs on them."

I nodded, making sure I was standing absolutely strait. "I know."

She laughed at me. "YOu're proud of your doggie boxers?"

I folded my arms across my chest. "I'm not ashamed of them."

She grabbed one of my arms and we started up the back stairs. "Come on."

A/N: I have no idea how courts in Canada work. I just know that what I wrote sounded like it might work. The fight was supposed to be huge like windows and stuff broken and such. Derek finds out more detail in the next chapter. Anyway, many people have hit the review button before. I would like it to be hit again by you! 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: Still don't own it!

Chapter 4 Fight Ban and Paper Writing

Casey's POV

He was so jealous when my friends were here. It was actually really funny. But, I didn't want them to push him too far. When they left I could tell he was relieved and angry that Chris had kissed me. Then, we almost kissed. I couldn't believe it. Then we had the revealing dinner. I had never meant for the Venturi's to know that I had been arrested. I knew he was going to ask me about it later, but I tried to avoid it.

After our fight in the kitchen and making our way upstairs in only our underwear (which, I enjoyed because I got to see Derek's muscles!), I had this feeling that things were really going to change between us.

I found I was right when I heard a knock at my door and Derek opened it later that night. "Hey."

I smiled at him. "Hey."

He closed my door and walked over to my desk chair and sat down. He faced me and folded his hands over his mouth. This was the tell-tale sign that he was wanting to ask me something, but not sure he should. Finally, after I had been staring at him from my position on my bed for about two minutes, he met my eyes and took a deep breath. "So, what did you have to pay for?"

I could tell that this was not the question Derek really wanted to ask, but I answered it anyway. "A lamp and a couple of decorative things. The host had put up most of the breakable stuff, so there wasn't much to destroy. I know that he had to pay for a couple of holes in the wall, though."

He hung his head for a moment before whispering his next question. "Did he hurt you?"

I nodded. "I ended up with a black eye and a busted lip. But no worries, he came out a lot worse. He ended up with a broken jaw."

He nodded for and we were silent again for a couple of minutes. "So, you were a party animal, huh?"

I laughed at him. "Are you seriously telling me that you sat there fretting about asking me THAT for two whole minutes?"

He shook his head. "No, but I don't have the guts to ask you what I wanted to, yet, so I'm starting with that."

I laughed again. "You mean to tell me that THE Derek Venturi, is unable to ask me a question?"

"Would you please just answer the one I did ask?"

I shook my head in disbelief. "I wouldn't say I was a party animal, I was just known for being a little," I paused looking for the right word. "A little loose, you might say."

"What do you mean 'loose'?"

"I had a tendency to end up drunk at the parties I went to." At this Derek started laughing. "I was also known to smoke a joint every now and then, and I frequently ended up making out with random guys I had never seen and would never see again. Is that what you thought I meant?"

He shook his head. "Normally when I hear 'loose' I think 'slut'."

I laughed at this. "I was never a slut."

"Have you ever slept with a guy?"

"Sex?"

He nodded.

"Almost, with my old boyfriend. Found out that was all he really wanted. He kept trying and I finally just told him that I wasn't ready for that. He broke up with me not long after." I looked at him to see that he was looking at me intently, though what emotion was there I couldn't tell. "Was that the question you wanted to ask me?"

He blushed (yes, BLUSHED) and nodded. "Mainly I was wondering if there was some reason the guy who tried to rape you would think you would be willing."

I laughed at that. "Well, to be honest, at my old school I was seen as a slut, but only because I made out with a lot of guys. Quite a few of them claimed that they had gotten all the way with me, I just never contradicted them."

He chuckled at that. "Kind of like me."

I laughed too. "Yeah, I guess so."

He frowned. "If you had that rep at your old school, then why have you always given me a hard time about mine?"

I shrugged. "Mainly because you're a guy. I just, at the time I moved in, I was really distrusting of guys with that kind of 'bad boy' image. You have that, big time, and I didn't want to be reminded of my old boyfriend. He was like that."

Derek nodded. "I didn't realize that. I wouldn't have teased you as much."

I laughed at that. "Yes, you would have. But you've made up for it."

He looked at me quizically. "How's that?"

I smiled at him. "There have been several times that you have kept people from teasing me about stuff when you didn't have to."

"Like when?"

I crossed my arms and leaned back against my pillows. "Like making people stop calling me 'klutzilla' and 'grade-grubber'..."

"That was a thank you for helping me pass English!"

I laughed at him. "You don't have to be embarassed that you really sort of like me."

"Shhhhh!" He acted like he was truly worried about being found out. "No one can know that."

"Why?"

"Because, I can't let people know that after all this fighting we've done. I've worked very hard to be sure that no one could possibly think that I care what you do."

I laughed at that as well. "Well, how can you possibly think that you would succeed. You didn't when you tried to tell people you didn't know me."

Derek waved that off. "That's because I couldn't hide the fact that you're living here from Sam, and he has a big mouth. But he knows better than to say anything about that."

"Yes, you do have everyone around you wrapped around your little finger...or your fist, which ever is applicable."

"Everyone except you, that is." He smirked at me. "But I'll change that eventually."

I shook my head. "So, have you?"

He frowned. "Have I what?"

"Had sex?"

His ears started getting pink again. I guess I was being a little too blunt for his comfort. He didn't answer me and I finally had to convince him. "Come on, you asked me and I answered. Return the favor."

He sighed. "I thought it was rather obvious by what I said about your rep versus mine."

I smirked at him. "Say it out loud, Derek. I seriously doubt that you have even said it out loud to Sam."

He gave a pointed look that clearly told me that he was thinking of killing me. "I have never had sex. Happy?"

I nodded and laughed at him. "Was that really so hard?"

He glared at me. "If you say anything at school, I will deny it."

I shook my head. "It would go against your carefully cultivated rep. You would have to simply ignore it. That way everyone can come to their own conclusions, which is how you got your rep in the first place."

He kept glaring. "Why do you always have to be right?"

"I will spread that around school."

"And I will deny that."

I laughed at him again. 

And he laughed with me. "why have we always fought? I'm having a lot of fun right now."

I shrugged. "At first it was because we were both used to getting our own way. And because we were thrown into this living situation that we really didn't want. We were both angry."

"Then why didn't we get over it?"

"Because it became normal."

"I don't want it to be normal anymore."

"I don't either."

He shifted awkwardly. "So..."

"Derek, we were just having a wonderful conversation a moment ago and we decided not to fight anymore, or at least not all the time, because I don't think you'll quit being annoying. Why are you suddenly so nervous?"

He shrugged. "I don't know."

"Derek."

"Okay, so I do know why, I just don't want to tell you."

"That's what I thought. Spill anyway."

He shook his head and I couldn't hold back the laugh. He cocked his head to the side. "What?"

"You looked EXACTLY like Marti when you shook your head that way. It was just really funny."

He grinned at me. "She is my sister!"

I laughed as he spun my chair around.

Suddenly he stopped and stared at me. "We have an essay due tomorrow."

I shook my head. "She pushed it back to the day after tomorrow."

He nodded slowly. "I haven't even started it. What was it supposed to be on?"

I smiled at him. "She said that we had to write about something personal in a non-personal way."

"Huh?"

"What she means is that you can write pretty much anyway you want. You could do it like you were interviewing yourself and writing an article or you could make it a short story based on personal experience, whatever you want."

He nodded slowly. 

"Do you need help with it?"

He shook his head slowly. "Would you be willing to proof read it, though?"

I nodded. "Sure, no problem."

He nodded slowly again. "I'll go get started on that, then." He got up and left my room. I was a little curious about the way he was acting. I couldn't tell if he was really worried about his grade again or if he was wondering what to write about or if he was just thinking about who he was going to ask out the next day.

Derek's POV

I plopped down into my chair infront of my computer. An essay (or short story) on anything I wanted as long as it was personal. How the hell was my teacher supposed to know if it was personal? What was I supposed to write about? I briefly considered going back to Casey's room to ask what she had written it on, confident that she would be done, but decided against it. For one thing she would assume that I was trying to cheat and for another it probably wouldn't have helped me much anyway.

I sat in front of my computer with the word processing program up for almost an hour and still all I had was: "Untitled by Derek Venturi". I really didn't think there was any way I would get anything but an F if I turned that in. 

But the problem really wasn't me. It was Casey. Okay, so it was me thinking about Casey, but that's basically the same thing, right? i just couldn't get the image of her in her underwear out of my mind. Black, lacey underwear. Who would've thought that goody-two-shoes Casey would have that kind of underwear. Then again, she really wasn't a goody-two-shoes, now was she? No, she was a lot more exciting than I orignially thought. I think.

Then again, I've never really thought she could have been that preppy. With her personality, always detesting people for thinking they were better than everyone else, I just knew that she didn't always dress and act the way she had been. But now she was changing. And it took all I had to not kiss her senseless everytime she walked into the room.

I wondered what the rest of the people at school would think about Casey the next day, since she still hadn't been to school since her friends took her to the mall. It was then that I stopped thinking and went barging into Casey's room.

She spun around from something she was doing on her computer and looked at me. She looked a little scared and I hoped I hadn't scared her. I know I didn't look pissed or anything. "Um, I was just wondering what you were planning to wear to school tomorrow."

She smirked at me...again! MY SMIRK! MINE!!!"Why, do you want to coordinate?"

I shook my head and looked at the floor. I decided this was really the wrong thing to do, however, because instead of her being UNable to decifer that I was worried she would show up in something I thought was too revealing, she did guess exactly that. All because I looked at the stupid floor!

She smiled at me when I confessed to being worried about what the other guys in school would do. "I appriciate your concern, Derek, but there is really no need. I can take care of myself."

I nodded and left the room, thinking the whole way back to mine that I didn't care if she had the ABILITY to take care of herself, she shouldn't HAVE to take care of herself. And then I realized what the perfect thing to write on was. I sat infront of my computer and re-wrote the title. Now it read: "The Girl by Derek Venturi". Then I started typing. ANd I didn't stop until almost three in the morning.

A/N: So, how liking? I know this chapter has been a little later coming than the others and for that I apologize. Also, just wanted to say that since finals are coming up and all (I only have this week of full classes and I'm done!) I might be unable to update for the next few weeks, although I will try. I do need to know one thing though. Should Derek and Casey kiss in the next chapter or in chapter six? I can't decide if I want to postpone the inevitable any longer or not. Hmmmm. 


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: Do I really have to say it again?

Chapter 5 The "New" Casey Goes to School

Normal POV

The next morning Derek woke up to Marti jumping on his stomach. "Wake up, Smerek!" she yelled. 

He groaned. "Alright, Smarti, I'm awake." He rubbed his eyes as Marti stopped bouncing and looked at him. "What time is it?"

"Time for you to get up," said a voice from his door.

"Morning, Casey!" Marti jumped off of Derek and ran to the door to give Casey a hug before running down to breakfast. 

Casey smiled from the doorway. She was already dressed in her punk clothes. "You're running late. We have to leave in about 30 minutes, and I'm not waiting." She turned and walked out of his room.

Slowly Derek got out of his bed and made his way to the bathroom. Thirty minutes later he ran down the stairs, barely remembering to grab his homework that he had actually done. Casey stood in front of the door tapping her foot and staring at her watch. She looked up as Derek came running down.

"Just let me..."

Casey cut him off by holding up a bagel. He ran to her and grabbed the bagel and they both went out to the car.

They arived at school a few minutes later than normal, which meant that all their classmates were inside the building. Derek looked at Casey nervously as they walked in. They separated to go to their respective lockers and Derek cringed as he heard all the guys gawking at Casey as she walked to her locker. He could also hear a lot of the girls growling.

When he got to his own locker Sam was leaning against it. "Dude, what is Casey up to. Do you guys have another bet going?"

He shook his head. "Nope, this is the real Casey. Those friends were dressed the way she did before they moved here. She seemed a lot happier since she got the new clothes." He shut his locker and looked at Sam watching her. "Don't even try anything."

Sam shook his head. "No worries. She's hot, no doubt, but I know you like her, and nobody likes to get on the wrong side of Derek Venturi."

He smirked and nodded. "That's right."

By lunch time the entire school was buzzing about Casey's new look. All the guys were trying to figure out how to ask her out and all the girls (minus Emily) were plotting her downfall. Derek had succesfully scared three guys out of any attempts to ask Casey out personally and they had been told to spread the word that he wasn't going to put up with it. The word had been dutifully spread and everyone who heard was slightly confused about why he was saying that, but no one questioned the king of the high school.

The threat also didn't keep a few brave souls from coming to talk to her at lunch. She ate with Emily as usual, but that day Derek and Sam joined them as well. Derek glared at each of the four guys who came over and scared them off after only a few words were exchanged.

After lunch was more difficult for Derek, because he was unable to keep track of Casey as easily and they weren't in the same area between classes. He settled for glaring at people everytime he heard them talking about Casey and trusting Sam to tell him if anyone even attempted to ask her out.

When the final bell rang, Derek practically ran to his locker and grabbed his things before heading to Casey's locker. When he got there Sam was standing next to her while she was pulling some of her books out and giving her ex a couple of weird looks. "Hey, Derek," she said when she noticed him.

Sam pushed himself off the locker beside her and started to walk away. "Well, I gotta get my stuff and meet my mom outside. I hate the dentist." He shook his head. "Oh, well. Hey, D, I'm still coming over later, right?"

Derek nodded. "Yeah, man, see you then." He turned back to Casey. "So, we going home together or do have something else to do?"

Casey gave him an amused frown. "I'm going to the mall with Emily later, but you knew that already because I have to take the car. We're still going home together."

"Well, I was just making sure, cause, you know, the way guys were watching you today...it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that one of the guys had asked you out by now." Derek shrugged, trying to make as little a deal of it as possible but knowing by Casey's amused look that he was failing horribly.

"You know, Derek, you used to be a good liar. Now you suck." She shut her locker and grabbed his sleeve starting to drag him to the door of the school.

He pulled himself from her grasp and they walked out to the car and went home.

Since the high school got out an hour before the elementry and junior high school, Casey and Derek were the only ones home. "So, what did Emily say about the new look?" He paused. "Or old look returned, as it were."

She laughed at him. "Honestly, she didn't like it. But I think it was mainly because I was getting more attention than her."

He nodded. "Sounds like Emily. Did she call you a slut?"

She shook her head. "Not to my face."

Derek looked at his feet. "Hey, why was Sam by your locker earlier?"

She was in the kitchen fixing a snack and offered him some before shrugging. "I don't know. We were just talking." She looked at his face. "Why, is there a reason he shouldn't be talking to me?"

He shook his head. "Nope. He's a big boy, he can talk to whoever he wants."

Casey stared at him for another minute, then shrugged. "Alright, well, I'm going upstairs to do some homework."

He nodded and waited for Sam to come.

Not long after Sam got there Casey came running down the stairs. "I'm going over to Emily's, I'll be spending the night. See you tomorrow."

"Wait! What about my paper, you were going to proof read it!" Derek paused the game he and Sam were playing and jumped up.

She looked at him sympathetically. "I'm sorry, but Em is really upset and I need to go. Sam could proof read for you, right, Sam?"

Sam nodded. "Sure, no problem."

"See?"

Derek still looked downcast.

"I'm really sorry Derek, but I promise I'll help you with the next assignment, ok?"

Derek just nodded and sat back down as Casey left. Before Derek could unpause the game Sam grabbed his controler. "Dude, are you trying to freak Casey out?"

"What are you talking about?"

"She is now worried about her because you looked so upset a minute ago."

"She'll think it's about my grades. No worries."

"D, you know as well as I do that Casey is a hell of a lot smarter than that. She knows that you don't care about your grades unless hockey is threatened. She also knows that there is no threat to hockey right now. She'll figure you out."

"By the way, why were you standing against the lockers next to Casey earlier?"

Sam smiled at him. "The same reason I was practically following her around the whole afternoon. You said I had to make sure no guys asked her out, so I dogged her all afternoon and glared at any guy's who tried."

"You were standing gaurd?"

Sam nodded. "Until you got there."

Derek smiled. "Thanks. And sorry, I should have known after you said that you wouldn't go after her, that you wouldn't go after her. I just can't control what I'm feeling when it comes to her."

Sam laughed at him. "No problem, man. But, hey, where is this paper for English that you're so worried about?"

"Up in my room. Let me get it." Derek jogged up to his room and retrieved the paper from his printer. He looked at the cover page for a moment and decided it was best that Casey hadn't read the paper because then she would know how he felt about her. At least Sam already knew.

He brought the paper down to the living room. Just as he was making it back over to the couch, Nora came in with the rest of the kids and George. "Hey, guys. Derek, could you get Casey for me?"

"Casey's at Emily's and she said she would be spending the night. Emily had some sort of emergency."

"Oh, ok, well, then could you do something for me?"

Derek nodded.

"Could you get Marti into bed now? She cought a cold at school and she's been refusing to go to bed since we got in the car."

Derek looked at his Smarti and saw that her nose was red and her eyes were watery. "Sure thing, Nora. Just a sec." He walked over to Sam and handed him the paper, but leaned down and whispered, "Could you read it in my room, please?"

Sam just nodded and got up to go to Derek's room as Derek picked Marti up by the waist and took her up the stairs. "I don't WANT to go to bed, Smerek!!!!" she yelled as he walked into her room.

"Smarti, I totally understand. You remember when I had the chicken pox and had to stay in my room all that time?"

She nodded.

"I hated it. I was restless and itchy and I wanted to go outside, but I couldn't because I was sick. But I'll tell you something, if you stay in bed tonight and don't fuss about it and eat the soup that I'm sure Nora will bring you soon, you'll get better a lot faster, so you won't feel as bad and you'll be able to get out of bed sooner."

She stared at him as if she was thinking about whether or not to believe him. Then she slowly nodded. "Ok, Smerek."

"Good girl, now, get your PJ's on and hop into bed."

She did as she was told then requested that Derek tuck her in and read her a story before he left.

When he finally got to his room Sam was sitting at his desk still reading the paper in from of him. "Dude, I know you're a slow reader, but I didn't think you were this slow."

Sam laughed and put the paper down, shaking his head. "This is actually the third time I've read it. The first time I couldn't believe you wrote it. It's really good, Derek. The second time I had to see just how obvious it was that the story is about your feelings for Casey, and this last time was all about enjoying it."

"It's really that obvious?"

Sam shrugged. "To your best friend who knows for a fact that you are head over heels in love with her? Yes. To anyone else? I don't think so. That's what I was looking for in the second reading, but beyond that fact that the character's names are Devon and Carrie, I don't think there is anything that would really tip anyone off." He paused. "Except maybe Casey, but I'm sure you already realized that."

Derek nodded. "Yeah, to be honest I was almost happy she wasn't able to proof read my paper." He fell back against the pillows on his bed. "I just hope it's good enough to get my English grade up a little."

Sam nodded. "I think what you need to worry about is convincing the teacher that you actually wrote it." He laughed as Derek threw a pillow at his head. "Seriously, man, this is A material, no doubt."

The next day Derek didn't see Casey until their English class. She looked like she hadn't gotten any sleep the night before. She sat in her normal seat near the front of the classroom and didn't say anything to anyone before class started.

When class let out, Derek caught up to her after he had turned in his paper. "Casey, is something wrong?"

She shook her head but still looked royally pissed.

"We both are free last period, you want to go home?"

She stopped and looked at him before nodding. "Just let me grab my books."

He nodded. "I'll meet you at the car."

When she got to the car they started home. Derek looked at Casey a couple of times before actually saying anything. "Case, are you sure you're ok?"

Casey sighed. "Emily's big emergency didn't actually come out until almost two in the morning, and you know what it was? Me! That's right Miss Emily said that her big emergency was all about me and you know what the big deal with me is? My look! My clothes are bothering her and she thinks that I should see a shrink. She's worried about me and thinks that I'm acting out in rebellion and trying to get attention." She paused for a moment but not long enough for Derek to say anything. "I mean, who does she think she is? She saw me one day, I didn't change how I acted."

"Casey?" She continued ranting. "Casey!" Still she ignored him. "CASEY!!" She stopped and looked at him. "Ok, I know that Emily is a bitch sometimes, but you and I both know that she is just jealous. You were getting more attention than her yesterday and she isn't used to that. Normally you do everything you can to not be noticed and suddenly you seem to be desiring attention, even if this is how you like to look. Give her a few days. In all honesty, she doesn't have enough friends and she likes me too much to quit being friends with you."

"But I don't know if I want to be friends with her anymore."

"Then think about that while she isn't talking to you."

Casey laughed at that. "So, what did Sam say about your paper last night?"

"He said it was A material, but I think he was being really nice."

"Well, I guess we'll see in couple of days."

"Yeah, I guess so."

THE END!!!!

of the chapter. Trust me I would never do anything like that to you guys. I don't care how out inspiration I am, I would never just leave you all hanging. I hate it when authors do that. 

Anywho, the next chapter will have this kiss, I promise. Just a warning, it may be after Christmas before I can get the next chapter up, but it will be before New Years. Later! 


	6. Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I am so sick of putting this.

A/N: Just so everyone knows (I probably should have put this in some sort of flashback, but I didn't), Sam is ok with Derek's feelings NOW. At first he found it really weird and didn't talk to Derek for about a week, but he managed to get over it after he realized that it must have been the reason for the "male code".

Chapter 6 Kiss me, baby

Casey's POV

Derek has been acting weird. He seemed so upset when I couldn't help him with his English paper. And then he seemed genuinly concerned when I was telling him about Emily. Not that I'm complaining in the least. I mean, recently we have been fighting less in general, but that doesn't mean we were really getting along, so it was still a little surprising. But I enjoyed every minute of it. Normally when I start ranting he tells me he doesn't care or, if we're home, calls for my mom, but today he just sat there listening to me for around five minutes before he said anything. And he seems to have actually thought about what to say.

I know I really shouldn't be getting as excited about this as I am because it probably just means that he is starting to think of me more like a sister, but that doesn't keep me from hoping that it's something deeper than that.

The rest of that day was uneventful as was the one after it. It was Thrusday that I was excited for. I wanted to know what Derek got on his paper. Of course I had to wait all day to find out. And the day wasn't very good.

Emily hadn't spoken to me since Tuesday and by Thursday she wasn't just ignoring me, she was outright glaring at me. I felt her eyes on me everytime a guy walked up to me. I finally snapped and told her to cut it out and if she had something to say, then say it. She told me at that point that I was being incredibly selfish and I needed to tell her what the joke was. I explained, yet again, that I was just going back to how I used to dress, but she would have none of it. I guess she still needs to cool down a little more. 

At any rate, I was very ready for the end of the day when I got to English class. Then the teacher had to be mean and not hand back the papers until the end of class. With about ten minutes to go he stopped his lecture and grabbed the stack of papers. "Okay, just let me say that the majority of the class got B's on this assignment. There were, however, two A's. The first went, of course, to Ms. MacDonald." He put her paper on my desk. "The second was a bit surprising." He began making his way to the back of the room as everyone's eyes followed him. "I expect to see this level of work on all your papers from now on Mr. Venturi." He set the paper down on Derek's desk as the boy looked at it with surprise clearly written on his face.

I smiled and the teacher said we could leave as soon as we had our papers, so Derek and I got up and quickly left the room. As we made our way down the hall towards our lockers we didn't speak. Derek continued staring down and the big red A on his cover sheet. "We skipping last period again?"

He looked up at me. "Why? You aren't upset."

I laughed at him. "No, but you have gotten your first A that I have ever seen and I think that is cause for celebration."

He grinned at me. "You paying?"

"Absolutely."

"Alrighty, then. I'll meet you at the car."

I nodded and left him to go to my own locker. Emily was standing there. I opened my locker and waited for her to say something as I filled my backpack. "You going somewhere, there is one more period."

I nodded. "I know, but my last period is free and so is Derek's so we're leaving."

She glared at the mention of his name. "You're dating him, aren't you?"

I was completely shocked when that came out. I couldn't even look at her. "What?"

"Look, Casey, I know you like him. I just never thought that you would get to the point that you would sell out who you are to get him. Or that you would go behind my back when you know I like him."

At this I was able to look at her. "Alright, Em, listen. I will tell you this last time. I used to dress like this when I wasn't in my school uniform. You can ask my mom or Lizzie. And nothing about me has changed. I still don't like the stupid jocks, I still get strait A's and I still take everybook in my locker home every afternoon. The only difference is the clothes covering my body. Now, if you please, I am going to go to the car now." I passed her as she stared at me, open mouthed. I knew that at some point she would realize that I didn't ever really answer her question. I never said Derek and I WEREN'T dating and I never denied that I liked him, but I didn't want to lie to her, even though we aren't dating.

I got to the car and Derek was already in the driver's seat. He frowned at me, confused, as I climbed in and slammed the door. He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot before talking. "Now, what could possibly have happened in the short time between us parting in the hall and you getting to the car to have royally pissed you off?"

I sighed, not really wanting to get into it. "Will it sufice to say Emily?"

He looked a little sympathetic. "I suppose, for now. But if you want to rant, you can."

I shook my head and forced myself to smile at him, though it really was a genuin smile. "Nope, we're skipping out early to celebrate your A, and I refuse to let anything dampen that. So, did the teacher leave you any comments on your paper?"

"I haven't checked yet."

"Well, where is it? I need to read it anyway, let me look." 

He suddenly looked panicked. "No, no. It's ok. I want to look at it, not have you read any to me. We'll look when we get there."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Ok. Where are we going, anyway?"

"ICE CREAM!!!!!"

I got the feeling that we would have punched the air if it weren't for the car roof and he had a big, stupid grin on his face. I just laughed at him. I couldn't help it, he just looked so cute and it was moments like this that I could see clearly that he and Marti were related.

He scowled at me when I started laughing.

"I'm sorry," I said, trying to control my laughter. "You just look so much like Marti with that expression on your face and, dare I say it, you look incredibly cute."

He grinned sheepishly at me. "Well, at least I remind you of someone you don't hate when I look like that."

I looked at him and saw that he was refusing to look in my direction. "I don't hate you, Derek."

He pulled into the parking lot of the ice cream shop and looked at me before getting out. "You really don't hate me?"

I shook my head. "I've never hated you, Derek. You're damned annoying most of the time, but I've never hated you." I smiled at him and got out of the car. "Now, let's get some of this cold stuff sooner rather than later."

He smiled at me, a genuine smile not a Derek-smirk, and got out of the car as well. Once we got into the shop the smirk did make its appearance and he said, "You are going to pay dearly for my A."

I returned a smirk of my own and snapped back, "Just remember that black eye I gave you last Saturday."

His smirk disappeared at that and was replace by a look of fear. He ended up only getting two scoops. We sat in the corner of the shop and I told him to pull out his paper and see if there was anything written on it. He did and started reading some of the comments. "Well, he says here, 'Good work, keep it up'. Well, that's highly original." Derek read a little more in silence. "He wants me to keep this level of work up for the rest of the year and says he's going to grade me more harshly from now on."

"What's the problem with that? Obviously you can do it, and in only one night."

He shook his head. "I had massive inspiration the other night. Normally I sit for hours and hours trying to write anything that doesn't sound like crap. For some reason, this assignment was different. I sat there for a few hours wondering what to write and then all of a sudden I knew what to write and I wrote it."

"Can I read it now?"

He looked at me for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I don't think I want you to read it."

"Oh, come on, Monday you were all upset about me being unable to read it. You have to let me read it now!"

He shook his head again. "I know, but I thought it over and I don't want you to read it."

"Is it about something embarrassing?"

He thought for a moment. "I'm not embarassed by it, really. I just don't want a negative response."

"So, are you scared of my reaction, or that I'll tell your dad?"

"The first one." He mumbled the line to the point that I could barely determine what he was saying.

So, with the stubborn boy in front of me being firm in his decision, I leaned back in my chair and began developing a plan to read the paper anyway.

By the time we got home the rest of the family was already there. "Hey, guys, what took you so long?" Mom asked.

"We were celebrating."

George came to the table with some papers in his hands. "What were you celebrating?"

There was a pause in which I elbowed Derek. "Ow." He rubbed his ribs before he answered. "I got an A on my English assignment."

Everyone looked up at that, clearly they were all in shock. Mom recovered quicker than the rest of the family and came over to hug Derek and congradulate him, followed closely by George. While Derek was being enveloped in hugs and pats on the back and being asked questions about the assignment, I went up to his room and got on his computer. I searched quickly for the file that I knew would be there and emailed it to myself. I hid all traces I could think of the email and put some of my notes that he had asked to borrow on his desk, making it look like they had bumped his mouse, bringing his computer to life. Then I made my way to my own room to unload my backpack. I didn't try to read the paper right then, I knew it wouldn't be long before I was called down for dinner.

I pulled out some homework and got started. See, Emily could certainly tell that I was still the same Casey she knew. Stupid Emily.

After dinner that night I went back up to my room and did a little more homework. I heard Derek go into his room (the first chance he'd had since we got home from school) and not long after he knocked on my door. I turned around in my chair as he stuck his head in. "Thanks for the notes. I'll get them back to you in the morning."

I waved my hand at him. "I don't have to have them back until Saturday."

He nodded, said good night and disappeared, closing my door behind him.

I got up and locked my door then turned back to my computer and opened the document. I decided to print it out so I could sit on my bed to read it. I could hardly contain my excitement as the pages came out. This is what I read:

The Girl by Derek Venturi

He sat staring out his window. It was midnight, but he couldn't sleep. He let the moonlight cascade down his skin as she invaded his thoughts. He was unable to think of anything else. She was beautiful and confident and she hated it when she didn't get exactly what she wanted, but at the same time she wasn't really selfish. She was just Carrie. She was perfect.

Devon sighed as he took one last look out the window before going back to lay on his bed. She was exactly the kind of girl he had always wanted, and exactly the kind of girl that wouldn't give him a second look. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep.

When morning came, Devon groaned at the early morning light that flowed through his window. He had forgotten to close his blinds the night before. He cursed himself for being unable to go back to sleep once he had been woken up. He made his way to the bathroom and was ready for school just as he normally got up. He pulled out his sketch book and started drawing absently, his fingers moving around familiar curves as he stared at his wall. When he finally looked down he saw familiar blue eyes staring up at him. He hid the picture along with all the others and went downstairs for breakfast.

At school he was distracted as her brown hair popped up everywhere he went. Finally at lunch he was able to talk to her. As usual, since she wasn't in his high school social circle, he couldn't really talk to her. He had to make fun of her, but it was all a joke. It was all a reason to get her to talk to him. They had their normal witty banter ending with scathing remarks that they would forget by the next day.

He sat outside after school smoking while thinking about her again. Carrie was his sister's best friend, he couldn't really ask her out. Plus with his reputation it was highly unlikely that she would say yes anyway. She was a smart girl. She knew when she was dealing with a bonafied jerk like him.

His best friend came out and asked if he was alright. "Yeah, just thinking."

"About Carrie?"

Devon nodded. "I think I love her, man."

His friend nodded. "I've known you love her for a while now. It's a wonder she hasn't picked up on it yet."

Devon shook his head. "I don't want her to pick up on it. I want to tell her myself, but I don't think I can."

"Why not?"

"She's my sister's best friend, dude. You don't date your sister's best friend. What would it end up being like if I broke up with her. I don't want things to be awkward if she ends up coming over afterwards."

His friend shook his head as Devon lit another cigarette. "You don't know when to quit do you?"

"I'll have you know that this is the only pack I've bought in the last two months. Don't tell me I'm addicted."

"No, that's not what I meant. I meant that you don't know when to stop putting yourself down. You not asking her out has nothing to do with your sister and you know it. It has to do with the fact that you don't think you're good enough for and your afraid that she knows it too. You have to quit that. You are a great guy and if you would just show her that every now and then she would be willing to go out with you."

Devon nodded more as a way of telling his friend to shut up than as a sign that he actually agreed. He got up and went towards his car. "I'll see ya later." He stomped out his cigarette before climbing into his car and driving home.

When he got there, she was there. 'Naturally,' he thought. 'There is no escape.' He plopped into his recliner staring at the tv that the girls were watching so intently. He snorted. "Don't tell me you guys actually watch this crap?" It was Laguna Beach. He hated that show with a passion because of the bitchy girls and even bitchier guys.

The two glared at him. "Yes, we're watching it," Carrie started. "And if you change the channel I will be forced to hurt you."

He snatched the remote from the arm of the couch, his sister shaking her head as he stared into her friend's eyes.

Carrie glared at him and locked eyes, having no intention of letting him change the channel. "Devon, just let us finish this show in peace, then you can have the tv. It's almost over."

"Now, Carrie. Since when have you lowered yourself to begging?"

"Since your sister asked me to quit fighting with you."

"Well, I can't have that, now can I. No, no, that would be horrible, I might have to start fighting with my family." He looked over at his sister. "Would you like me to start fighting with you?"

"You mean more than you already do?"

He smirked and looked back at Carrie, who was still staring at him. As he looked back into her bright blue eyes he felt himself falling. He was lost in her eyes until she yelled at him and he snapped back and jumped out of his chair. "You can have the tv." He threw the remote at her and ran upstairs to his room. He could feel her watching him as he climbed the stairs.

When he got into his room he collapsed onto his bed. Carrie was perfect, he knew this. It was the reason no one ever asked her out. He wanted her badly enough that he had threatened the entire male population at his school that if they asked her out it would be the last thing they did for a while. He listened as footsteps made their way up the stairs and into his sister's room. He stared at the wall that separated his room from his sister's. he could hear laughing. He listened for a moment before slipping his headphones over his ears and turning on his music.

There was no way he could date his sister's best friend. Not that it was really wrong, but if they broke up, his sister would hate him because the discomfort around the house if Carrie ever came over again. He would also insist on monopolizing Carrie's time and his sister wouldn't like him much for that either. But the worst was thinking about telling her how he felt, knowing full well that she would say no and think he was crazy. Then school would be uncomfortable as well.

As he rolled over to sleep before dinner it was decided. There would never be anything between Devon and Carrie. He would simply admire her from afar, probably never get over her. He would love her until the day he died.

I stared at the paper. There was no doubt in my mind that "Devon" was Derek and "Carrie" was me. It was impossible that they were anyone else. I wondered if Sam had caught on to it, but that wasn't the main question in my mind. The main question was why Derek had apparently decided he could never tell me he was in love with me. I know that the story was supposed to be fiction, so I hoped that he didn't actually think like that.

I sat there for a few more minutes, just thinking about the story and what its implications were. Finally I decided to get up and go to his room. When I got to the door I saw light coming from under the door and heard some music playing softly. It was just guitar so I figured he was the one playing. I knocked and the guitar stopped, confirming my suspicions. "Come in."

I opened the door and stepped into his room. He watched me with no discernable emotion on his face as I closed his door and walked over to sit on his bed. "I have a confession to make."

He smirked. "You really are a man."

"No. I read your story for English."

He was silent for a moment. "How? I've had my backpack with me since you found out about my A."

I nodded. "I emailed it to myself earlier when I put the notes on your desk."

Derek looked horrified. He didn't start yelling like I had almost expected him to and he didn't seem at all angry. He just stared at me. "So, what did you think?"

I smiled. "I really liked it. I was just thinking about what it was about." I was trying to get him to say something about it. I needed him to make the first move.

"Yeah, how about that?" He wasn't budging.

"Derek, how personal was that?"

"Very."

"Who was Carrie based on?" I had to get him to tell me. But I think he must have been trying to do the same thing by what he said next.

"You can't figure it out?"

he looked at me with an intensity I have never seen before. "I have an idea. I just want you to say it."

"You."

That was surprising. I thought it would take more coaxing than that. "That's what I thought."

He refused to look at me instead keeping his eyes trained on the floor. 

"How much of the feelings were made up?"

He shook his head, still with out looking at me. "None."

I smiled at that, even if he couldn't see me. I stood up and walked over to him. Gently I lifted his face to look at me. There was sorrow in his eyes and he looked like he wanted to cry. "Please don't hate me," he whispered.

I couldn't help but smile at his misunderstanding of the look in my eyes and I shook my head. "I can't hate you, Derek. I love you."

He blinked at me a couple of times as we looked at each other in silence. Then, before I could say anything he had stood, grabbed my hips, and slammed his lips on mine. I let my arms wrap around his neck. Before the kiss got any deeper he pulled away from me and leaned his forehead on mine and laughed at me as I pouted. "I love you, too."

I smiled and pulled his lips back down to mine.

A/N: Ok, so it was a short and rather sucky kiss but better than nothing, right? Also, the inspiration really struck for this chapter so, I guess this is a Christmas surprise! YAY!! Hope you enjoyed it! 


	7. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I am so sick of putting this.

A/N: Sorry it's been so long. I just have not had any inspiration lately. But here's the next chapter.

Chapter 7 All but the Parents

Derek's POV

It had been almost a month since that first kiss and still no one knew about Casey and I being together. Not even Sam, who was the most supportive. He kept asking, but I couldn't say anything. Casey and I hadn't really talked about telling anyone so I didn't want to betray her trust by telling Sam too soon.

I was laying on my bed after dinner. I knew she and I were the only ones in the house, but it had only been five minutes and I didn't want the family walking in on us, so I hadn't made it to her room yet. In all honesty, I was sick of hiding what we had. I wanted to show everyone that we were together. I wanted to be completely cliche and yell it to everyone in the school. I know, THE Derek Venturi being a cliche romantic. But I couldn't help it.

I heard a knock at my door and grinned. "Yes, Casey?"

She came in and I knew instantly that this wasn't a pleasurable visit. At least, not now. Her face was set and instead of coming right to me she sat in my desk chair. Either this was really bad or it was really, really bad. She seemed kind of on the edge.

I, knowing this was important, sat up and looked at her while she sat for several minutes in silence. "I've been thinking about us."

That worried me. What was she sick of me already? I'm the one known for moving from girl to girl. Sure, she's been different the last month or two, but Nora said that even in her old life, Casey was more of one-guy girl. She made out with lots of guys, but she didn't date tons of guys and stuck with them for a while. I thought a month just wasn't long enough for her to get sick of me.

She must have seen what I was thinking in my eyes because she laughed and shook her head. "No, Derek, I don't want to break up with you." She paused. "I just think that maybe we would let people know we're going out. I mean, honestly, all the girls in school keep hanging all over you. They never did that when you were dating Kendra. They glared at Kendra, but they didn't hang all over you. I don't like it."

It was my turn to laugh at her. "You know, I could just tell them to stop and they would. I don't like them hanging all over me, either, and the only reason I didn't tell them to stop was because I figured you'd get mad at me for doing something unusual."

She sighed and fixed me with an amused look on her face. "Derek, I know you better than that. You've been wanting to tell everyone for a month."

"We've only been together a month."

"Exactly."

I stared at her for a moment, contemplating what I said next. Do I tell her that I want everyone to know that she is mine and no one else can have her? Do I tell her she's wrong and I have no strong feelings either way? That was out, she would know I was lying. The last time she caught me lying to her she wouldn't kiss me for three days, and that was just about where I put me English book. "I want to tell people, but I won't if you don't want me to."

She seemed to have rehersed what she wanted to say before she came to my room. "I don't want to tell everyone yet. I don't care if you tell Sam, and I'm going to tell my friends. Also, I think it would be safe to tell Ed, Liz, and Marti, but I'm kind of on the fence about George and Mom. Jazz says that if I tell Mom she will disown me, but I don't think her reaction would be that extreme."

"Dad's would be. Look, for the parental units' sake, how about we just stop fighting as much and act like more of a 'we've-been-together-so-long-it's-not-even-funny' kind of couple, who you think is a couple, but it isn't glaringly obvious. That way they can get used to the idea, before we actually come out and tell them." Ok, so I had thought all of this through as well. I also already knew my back-up plan.

"That sounds reasonable."

I frowned at her. "You sound surprised. Have you that little faith in my abilities to actually think?"

"I have never had any doubt that you had the ABILITY to think. The DESIRE was the issue." We both laughed. "I'm not really surprised, and I do like the idea. The only question now is, what about school. If those girls don't get away from you I will rip their heads off, but if we show everyone we're a couple there, Mom and George will get a call from the principle or Paul or someone."

She was right. "I'll tell the girls to lay off. I'll tell them that I have a girlfriend."

"And when they ask who she is?"

"I'll say something about her being from another school. I'll say I met her at a hockey game, which, isn't even really false."

"The second part. Not that you care, lying is easier for you than telling the truth."

I shook my head violently. "Not anymore. THe consequences are far to great."

She laughed. "So, I guess we have all of that figured out now."

I nodded. "It would seem so."

She stood up walked towards me. "What ever shall we do now?"

I pulled her down into my lap as she stradled me and let my mouth remain centemeters from her's. "We'll think of something, I'm sure." And I kissed her. Pure bliss. And now I was even able to tell Sam.

Casey's POV

Emily still isn't speaking to me. I keep passing her in the halls and she won't say anything. We are about to graduate and she is seriously going to abandon me like this. I haven't told her about me and Derek. Why make her even more mad at me?

But after talking to Derek last night, I really want to show off what we have. Ok, so I've wanted to show off what we have, I just don't think we should for our family's sake.

We told Ed, Liz, and Marti last night after they got back. They all told us that they were actually about to lock us in a closet until we got together. We were both happy about that. The kids even said that they would keep it a secret from Mom and George. I know that Derek was also planning on telling Sam today. 

And suddenly Sam was beside me. "Hey."

"Hey." 

"Derek told me, and I just wanted to say congrats. I've known about his side of things for a while and I'm really happy you two are on the same page."

He was walking with me to my next class, which we had together, and we turned down an empty hall. "Derek also told you to keep it secret, right?"

Sam nodded and I laughed. "Well, you're doing a very good job of talking in code. Thanks for supporting this. I know it means a lot to Derek, and it means a lot to me, too."

He smiled. "Behind you 100!"

By last period I was so ready to be home. Derek and I were going to be home alone until dinner time. I don't remember why, but I also don't really care. I'll look it up right before they get home, so that I can ask the right questions. But the day had been hell. Emily was becoming increasingly hostile. Not only did she not talk to me, but she outright glared at me whenever I have to be in the same room as her. While I tried really hard not to care that she didn't want to be my friend anymore, I couldn't ignore her blatant hatred of me.

As I made my way to the car after school I heard feet running up behind me. I turned around and saw Derek running over. "Into the car! Quick!" He unlocked the door for me and I jumped in.

I looked at him as he peeled out of the parking lot. I was completely confused. "Derek, was there some sort of problem at school?"

He nodded.

I waited. "Are you going to explain it to me?"

Again, he nodded.

Again, I waited. "Derek! Now!"

He licked his lips. "Well, I did what I said I would. I told those girls that I have a girlfriend and she goes to a different school. They didn't take it too well."

"What did they do?"

"They said that they would follow me around until they found out who it was and then they would kill her." He paused. "I figured if I got out of there fast enough, we could get home without them following us."

"Derek, every girl in school knows where you live."

He nodded. "I know that, but I meant that there would be no way, if we got home soon, that they could catch us together."

"You don't think they can look through windows?"

He smirked. "Well, I kind of figured we'd be in a bedroom."

I laughed at him. "That cocky attitude will get you into trouble some day, Derek Venturi."

"Yeah, but not with you."

"Oh, eventually it will."

He pulled into the driveway and we went into the house. I knew that Derek wanted to go straight upstairs, but I was feeling evil so I went to the kitchen. He followed me and waited at the bar for me to finish getting a snack for the two of us. As soon as I had put everything away and was sitting down, he slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his lap resting his chin on my shoulder. "What are you doing?" I whispered.

"Why are you whispering?" he whispered back.

I laughed. "Answer my question."

"I am trying to keep my girlfriend from being evil again and leaving me alone in the room without so much as one kiss."

"Is making out all you think about?"

"No. In fact, right now I don't care if we make out or not, I'm just very comfortable and don't want to move."

"Derek, we're on a stool."

He nodded against my shoulder. "I know."

I turned my head to kind of look at him. "You really feel that comfortable just because of me?"

He looked up at me. "Yep."

I smiled, kissed his nose, and peeled his arms away from my waist. He pouted at me and I laughed at him. "I'm just going upstairs, Derek." With that statement he smirked at me and chased me up the stairs.

Derek's POV

School was hell. Of course I had always thought that classes were hell, but I normally liked the halls. But that day was bad all over. People kept whispering behind my back and looking at me with disgust. I wasn't used to that.

It wasn't until lunch time that I saw Sam and he told me what was going on. 

As he sat down he looked nervouse. "What?" I snapped, and I didn't mean to. "Are you too embarassed to be seen with me now?"

He glared at me. "D, I've been your best friend for twelve years. I'm not going to be embarassed by you in only one day. I'm nervouse because I have to tell you what is going on."

I stabbed at my food. "What is going on, Sam?"

"Emily found out about you and Casey."

I frowned. "Casey told her?"

Sam shook his head. "No. She claims that she saw you guys being all lovey yesterday. She is also saying that this has been going on for at least a year and she only just now had actual proof."

"Which makes Kayla defensive, since that would overlap when we were dating."

Sam nodded. 

"So, what is the school concensus?"

Sam shrugged. "Actually, not as bad as you might think. Everyone is a little shocked, but they aren't grossed out by it. In fact, many around here seem to think that it might not be a bad thing. I've heard several people comment on how happy you and Casey have looked lately." He took a bit of his food while I processed that. "In all honesty, I think Emily's plan for humiliation has backfired. Maybe if you and Case explain, right now, that it has only been two months then Kayla will stop."

I nodded. "Do you know if Casey knows about all this?"

Sam nodded. "She asked me to tell you to meet her in the library after you're done eating."

I nodded and started to scarf my food down. Sam kind of laughed at me, but I had to get to Casey as soon as I could. As I swallowed the end of my lunch I stood and slapped Sam on the back. "Thanks, man. You have no idea how much having you behind me and Casey means to me."

"No problem, man."

I headed strait to the library. When I got there I went to the back of the room and looked along those tables for Casey. Naturally, she was the only one in there at lunch time. I rushed over to her and sat down, putting my arm over her shoulder. I could see she had been crying. "You ok, baby?"

She nodded. "I'll be fine. I'm done crying about it."

She leaned her head on my shoulder and I leaned my head on her's. "What do you want me to do?"

I could feel her frown, then she sat up and I could see it. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, Sam said that there aren't very many people who actually think us dating is gross or anything. What do you want me to do to keep the few who are quiet?"

She smiled. "If there are few, then who cares?"

I smiled back. "You really don't care about the nay-sayers?"

She shook her head. "I really don't. In fact, I was just thinking, before you got here, that maybe this is a good thing. In all honesty, I didn't want to keep everything secret. I think that we should still try to keep this from Mom and George for now, but I'm kind of glad that the student body knows. Now, even if they don't like it, we still don't have to hide it everywhere."

I smiled even wider. "Good." I leaned in and kissed her. "And, just so you know, Sam said there is no way he is gonna back down from supporting us."

"I'm glad." She leaned against me again and gave a sigh of relief. Things were going to be ok.

Casey POV

I had to get to the bottom of that rumor. I knew it came from Emily and all, but I wanted to know where she got her information. I actually figured she was just speculating.

I walked up to her after school and glared. "Where the hell do you get off spreading rumors about me?"

Emily put a hand on her hip and glared right back at me. "I'm not spreading rumors, I'm spreading truth. I saw you and Derek making out in your kitchen yesterday."

I was confused. "Where were you?"

Emily smiled as if triumphant. "I was in your backyard. I was intending to talk to you, to tell you I was sorry and I shouldn't have been reacting the way I was. Then I realized that I was actually right."

I stared at her a moment. "Ok, me and Derek are together. But it has only been for the last month or so. I didn't change my look to get him, I changed it back to what it used to be. So backoff, Em."

At that moment I felt an arm slip around my shoulders and my head turned towards the arm's owner. Instantly Derek's lips were on mine. As he pulled away, he grinned at me. "What's up, baby?"

I smiled back. "Nothing. We ready to go?"

He nodded and looked at the people around us, all of whom were staring in complete silence. Derek's eyes darted from person to person as he smirked. "You can look, but if any of you try to touch my Casey I'll kick your ass, I don't care what gender you are."

Before anyone could say anything we were walking down the hall towards the door. As we walked out of the school I noticed more and more people smiling at us and a couple even clapped. I smiled at Derek and he kissed me. Things were going to be ok.

A/N: So, how was this chapter? I know there will be at least one more chapter, but I'm going to decide that after the next chapter. Review!!!! 


	8. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: I am so sick of putting this

A/N: Just so everyone knows, Casey's "almost graduating" is different from other peoples, since she's all about grades. "Almost graduating" to her is "damn I still have three months of school" to others. Just thought I'd say that in case anyone got confused from the last chapter to this one.

Chapter 8 And then there were None

Derek's POV

So, school has been a lot better since Casey and I started dating. I was getting better grades and I was nicer to people around school and everyone was really great about me and Casey. Well, that may have been because I told everyone that if they gave us any crap I'd give them bloody noses, but I didn't really care why it was. The point is that Casey and I were great together.

Dad and Nora had noticed the change in me and a change in Casey. I was getting better grades and not getting to nearly as much trouble at school. Casey just seemed more relaxed. She didn't get upset at Marti for leaving her crayons everywhere and she didn't yell when Lizzie chased Ed through the house. And she and I were more likely to go with the family to the movies than not.

I suppose they also noticed that Casey and I were getting along better, though we still had fights. Hey, no matter how in love with a person you are, if they do stuff that drives you crazy and refuse to stop, you get into a fight with them. At any rate, there have been several occasions over the last few months that Case and I have even gone out, like on dates, although we didn't call them that or act like they were a big deal around the house.

But I think Dad was starting to get supsicious. I knew he was happy that I was improving in school, but Casey and I had been together for a little over four months and there were bound to be signs.

My suspiscions were confirmed when I got a knock on my door and, without waiting for a reply, my dad walked into my room and closed the door behind him. "Derek, we need talk."

He took a seat in my desk chair and I sat up on my bed. "I haven't been getting bad grades."

He nodded. "I know, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."

I frowned. "So, I'm in trouble for getting good grades?"

Dad shook his head. "No, Derek, you aren't in trouble. I was wondering what could possibly have motivated you to do better."

I stared at him.

"Derek, were threatened with being unable to play hockey?"

I shook my head.

"Is it because of a girl?"

I nodded slowly.

"If this girl is so important that you would change for her, or because of her, why haven't I met her or at least heard about you going on a date," he paused. "In fact, I haven't heard about you going on a date in several months now."

I nodded again. "I know." I took a deep breath. Casey and I had talked about this. We were planning to tell our parents soon, since we were going to the same college in less that three months, we were going to tell the everything about us before we left so as to explain why we wanted to live together. But I knew that Dad wouldn't leave until I had given him some sort of answer. "Look, Dad, if I could I would tell you all about her and me and us, but I can't. Not right now. I promise you'll know soon, we're just waiting for the right time to break it."

Dad stared at me. "You can tell me how you feel about her."

I looked directly in his eyes so that he would know I was telling the absolute truth. "I love her and I can't see myself with anyone but her."

"Do you want to marry her?"

I nodded. "Not now, but when we're a little older."

Dad smiled at me. I really didn't get that, but it was better than him not believing me. "Just at least give me her name before the wedding."

I laughed and nodded. "You got it."

Dad stood and left my room.

I leaned back against my pillows for a few minutes before standing and going to Casey's room. She was sitting at her desk typing away at something. We were less than two weeks from graduation, so there wasn't any homework. I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her neck and rested my head on her shoulder. "Whatcha doin', babe?"

"I am writing a story."

"What about?"

"Us, basically."

"Will I get to read it?"

"Eventually." She closed to document she was working on and turned her head towards me. "Why are you in here?"

I kissed her. "We need to talk." I moved to her bed and she turned her chair to look at me. "My dad can tell that I have a secret girlfriend and he wants to know who she is. I think we should tell them before we graduate rather than right before we move. I mean, everyone at school knows and it is bound to come up, and I don't think we can hide it much longer."

She nodded. "Mom is beginning to suspect something, too. She keeps asking me how Sam is with me leaving."

I laughed. "Wrong guy."

She nodded. "Yeah. I just keep telling her that he doesn't care, since we're just friends, but she knows I'm in a relationship with someone and she assumes it's him."

"I wonder if we ought to tell them this week. Maybe Friday, when the whole family is here. That way we can have Liz, Ed and Marti backing us up. What do you think?"

She nodded slowly. "I think you're right."

Casey and I were nervous as we came down the stairs on Friday night. We had told the kids what we had planned the night before and they were ready to help us in any way they could. We had decided that we should just come out and say it when everyone was there, sitting down for the family meeting. We had told the other kids not to get involved unless we really needed their support.

When we got to the table Nora came in from the kitchen and looked at the two of us then at Dad.

"Ok, George, which one do we start with?"

Dad looked between us and shrugged. "Which ever cracks first."

Nora remained standing and Casey and I looked at each other. Had they already found out somehow? Were they trying to get us to confess?

"Look, you two, we know something is going on. Both of you have been acting strangely for the last few months. It isn't that the changes aren't positive, but we would really like to know what is going on. Who are these people in your lives making you want to act differently?"

Ok, so they still had no clue that we were each others' better half. I looked at Casey, but she was looking at the table top in thought. "So, you think the changes are positive?" She looked up at her mother hopefully.

I looked at Nora, too and she nodded. "Yes. We aren't trying to make you give up these people, we just want to know who they are."

Casey looked at me and I nodded. "Ok," I said. "Just, sit down and remember what you just said."

Nora frowned slightly but sat down all the same.

I took a deep breath. Casey would have a really hard time getting it out, so we decided that me and my "tactless ways", as Casey put it, would be better suited for giving out this bit of information. "Um, the person who has been making me want to do better in school and be, you know, just different from how I've always been is the same girl that I told Dad I'm in love with."

Dad and Nora both nodded.

"She and I have been dating for about four months now and before I tell you guys who she is, I need you to remember that you like how I've been acting lately."

They exchanged looks. They were beginning to understand that they might not like what they were about to hear. I looked at the kids, too. Ed and Liz seemed poised to hold off Dad and Nora if Case and I had to make a run for and Marti was smiling at me.

"That girl," I paused and felt Casey's hand on my leg. I grabbed her hand. "Is Casey."

Dad and Nora looked from me to Casey, who nodded, and back to me, before they both stared giggling. "You two are joking, right?" Dad was trying really hard to not laugh, but he really wasn't succeeding.

I looked at Casey in shock. I thought they would start yelling, not think we were joking. "Why would we joke about this?" Casey stared at her mother and both adults stopped laughing and stared at us again. They seemed to be waiting for Casey to go on. She pulled our joined hands up onto the table and looked directly in her mother's eyes. "We have been dating for the last few months. Everyone at school knows already and so do Liz, Ed, and Marti. We're going to college this fall and we want to get an apartment together. Mom, I love Derek and there isn't anything that's going to stop that. You said that you've noticed positive changes in both of us. This is why."

Nora looked at Casey and swallowed. She was pale and Dad looked like he was about to pass out from shock. Then Nora looked at me. "Derek, do you love Casey?"

I nodded. "More than anything."

She nodded. "All of you go upstairs. George and I need to talk."

We all stood up quietly and started for the stairs while Dad and Nora started for the kitchen. We all stopped when we heard Marti speak. "Smerek is happier now. Smerek has never been this happy before and I like him even more now. And Casey is a lot happier too. I like Smerek and Casey dating." She looked up at us from the bottom of the stairs and grinned.

I smiled back at her. It was just like my little sister to say exactly what she thought. And she was so innocent that no one could help but think smile at whatever she said. "C'mon, Smarti," I told her. "Upstairs."

When we got to the top of the stairs I started talking. "Well, that could have been a lot worse." I opened my door and started to pull Casey in with me, but she hung back. "What is it?"

The kids stopped, but thought better of watching us and retreated to their rooms.

"I don't know if it is a good idea for us to be in the room alone."

I frowned at her. "Why?"

"Well, Mom and George are going to want to talk to us. I'm not sure they would be comfortable finding us in the same room, alone, with a closed door."

I shook my head and stepped towards her. "Case, they already know we're together, how much weirder can things get for them?"

"But they'll think we were..."

I cut her off there. "Babe, if they don't understand that by us dating we have also been making out, then they are in complete denial that we have even been dating. Please, I don't want to just sit in my room and wait for them to come up and yell at us." I slipped my arms around her waist and leaned my forhead on hers.

"Ok." It was barely a whisper, but I heard her loud and clear.

We went in my room and I took a sear on my bed, while she went to the other side of the room to my desk chair. "It also could have gone better."

I looked at her confused. "Huh?"

She rolled her eyes. "I guess being in love with me can't change how stupid you can be." I frowned at her, but she laughed and continued. "You said a minute ago that that could have gone worse, but it could have gone better, also."

"Oh, yeah, I guess that's true. But in all honesty, we really don't know how things have gone, yet. I mean, we don't know that they're going to be pissed at us or disgusted by us. They're faces were ones of shock. Maybe they'll be completely supportive, right?"

Casey smiled at me and nodded.

"Aha, there is my Casey."

She laughed at me again. "Did you think she had gone some where?"

I grabbed her hand and pulled her to sit on the bed next to me. "Well, I couldn't find her under that worried thing you had going."

She wrapped her arms around my chest and leaned her head on my shoulder.

"So, can we make out now?"

She huffed. "You can't let a sweet moment be just that, can you?"

"Nope." Hey, I can be honest.

She sighed and looked at me, right before planting her lips on mine. It didn't take very long for us to be laying down on my bed with my tongue in her mouth holding each other so close we would need out molecules to join to be any closer.

Then we heard a throat being cleared. We stopped kissing and looked up to see Dad and Nora standing in the doorway and before I could process what had happened I was on the floor and Casey was sitting up on my bed straightening her clothes.

I frowned up at her. "Hey, my bed, you don't get to push me off."

She glared down at me. "You weren't on your bed, you were on me." She blushed, realizing just how bold a statement that was in front of her mother and stepfather.

I grinned and got up from the floor and took a seat next to her. We both looked up at the adults who were actually smiling slightly as they watched us. "So, are we vile beings that you never want to see again, or do we have chance of being accepted?"

I felt Casey stiffen next to me. Apparently she had never thought that they wouldn't want to see us again, but that was worst case scenario, so I really didn't think that, either.

Nora shook her head and sat in my desk chair while Dad leaned against my desk. "We don't think you're vile, son. It was just shocking to find out that you two are dating. We thought you still couldn't stand each other." He smiled. "And it looks like we aren't going to have fightless house anyway."

Nora chuckled. "Look, guys, this is going to take George and I a little getting used to, but we can't honestly say that we didn't see it coming. In the back of my mind I always knew that you two were absolutely perfect for each other, I had just kind of hoped, out of a desire to keep things from being even a bit weird, that you two would end up just friends, but I can see that didn't happen."

Casey smiled sheepishly and looked at her hands, one of which I had managed to entwine my fingers in.

I continued to look at my dad. "So, you guys aren't going try to keep us apart?"

Dad laughed. "Would we be able to succeed?"

"No."

"Exactly. All that would do is make everyone unhappy. We just have a couple of requests. One is that you don't have sex while you're here."

Casey coughed and even I blushed.

"The second is that if you guys break up you have to promise that you will still be civil, since you will still share a family."

I looked up at him. "You are just saying that to cover the bases, right? You guys don't expect us to break up."

Dad's eyes softened when he looked at me. "No, Derek, we don't expect it."

Nora smiled and stood. "We'll leave you two alone. But remember request number one."

They both left and I looked at Casey. She was pale. "Case, what's wrong?" I turned her chin so she would look at me.

"Derek..."

I was getting really worried now. "Baby, what is it?" I kissed her forehead. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head and started crying and I could tell that some of the color was coming back to her cheeks. "Nothing's wrong. I just really didn't think things would go as well as they did."

I smiled at her. "Well, they did." I kissed her. "They went amazingly well and I'm never going to let you go." I kissed her again and this time we stayed that way. We were again laying on my bed and she and I had only one thing on our minds. We were free. We didn't have to hide anything from anyone. Were free to be together. We slept in my bed that night. No, we didn't have sex, neither of us had any intention of ruining the trust Dad and Nora had extended. But neither of us were really ready for that step, either.

When we woke up the next morning it was to three faces and a tray of breakfast foods. A small celebration. All five of us ate in my room that morning, laughing and talking. Casey looked as happy as I had ever seen her and I couldn't help thinking that not only was everything going to be ok, but everything was going to be perfect. Casey was something new for me, but that was only because she was my angle.

A/N: Ok, so there you are, the parents know. Now, should I write another chapter? leave the story here? or write a sequal? Which idea do you guys like best? I can do any of them, except maybe leave it where it is, though I could for a while. Let my know when you hit the review button. Pretty review button! 


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